Dave Grohl fell offstage during a show in Sweden last month just two songs into a Foo Fighters show, snapping his fibula, dislocating his ankle, and casting uncertainty on the band’s summer tour. But Grohl’s cast hasn’t interfered with the Foos’ massive 20th anniversary show in Washington D.C. on the Fourth of July—or its subsequent string of gigs.

“The shows we’ve been doing lately are our favorite shows that we’ve ever done,” Grohl tells EW on a day off from touring in Canada. “What seemed like a setback at the time has turned into this beautiful blessing in disguise, where this throne and these crutches and these audiences make us play longer and harder than we ever have. It’s this whole new energy in the show.”

Grohl’s referring to the colossal chair he designed—while he was “high as a f–king kite” on pain meds—so he could play while sitting on tour. The rocker says that he got the idea for the throne a few days after undergoing surgery on his leg, because he knew that at the Fourth of July gig he couldn’t “just sit on a stool like Paul Simon.” “The idea of the throne is just f–king ridiculous, especially for a band that has never relied on any kind of production at all,” he says. “We usually just put the amps on the stage, turn on the lights, and play. Now we’ve got this throne that shoots lights and smoke out of it and looks like a f–king UFO with guitar necks stuck in it.”

But the seat, which he sketched out on hotel stationery, didn’t come out exactly as he first planned. “I wanted the thing to pick up and fly,” he says. “We got to pre-production and [my lighting guy] said, ‘Look man, you already have one broken leg. Let’s not fly it around yet.'”

The Foo Fighters will continue to tour North America through October and then head to Europe. Grohl promises more great gigs even as his leg continues to heal: “I think the spontaneity of this situation we’re in right now just brings out a smile in everyone.”